My 2012 Big Year

Monday, 4 June 2012

Adventure Alaska

It's finally that time. I am heading to Alaska with a hefty wish list of birds I hope to see both on land and sea. The anticipation is really starting to build and I can't wait to get started. Only problem, I don't leave until 11pm tonight and don't arrive until 2pm on Tuesday. When one uses reward miles to travel, one is not always in control of one's travel itinerary. Oh, Woe is Me. I expect no sympathy. This truly is a trip of a lifetime. I hadn't gone into this Big Year planning on going to Alaska, but somewhere along the line I knew that, just like going to The Dry Tortugas, a Big Year would be incomplete without Alaska.

So off I go, a pelagic trip from Seward to the Kenai peninsula on Wednesday; birding on land in the same area on Thursday; Denali on Friday and on my arrival and departures days, Tuesday and Saturday, birding around Anchorage, my home base for the trip.

This is exciting and the first of a string of trips I have planned from now until mid July. I hope I can keep up. This might be both the most gruelling and thrilling year of my life. The folks who are doing full out Big Years have my admiration.

Back to Alaska:

What do they eat in Alaska? I picture whale shushi.

Do they have the McDonald's with the Free Wi-Fi?

I've always wanted to see Frozen Tundra. Do they have that in the Anchorage Metropolitan area?

What if I get monumentally sick on the Pelagic?

How much Dramamine to take? I'd hate to fall asleep and not see any birds. But I'd hate to be sick and not see any birds.